The Winnipeg Jets went into their matchup with Montreal Wednesday night hoping to enter the Olympic break on a high note.
Instead, the thousands of Canadiens fans in attendance at Canada Life Centre had plenty more to cheer about as Montreal knocked off the Jets 5-1.
Before puck drop, the Jets honoured their four players who will be suiting up in the upcoming Olympic games, with Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter earning solid applause but the building roared for Canada’s Josh Morrissey.
Fittingly, it was one of the Jets’ Olympians who broke the ice just over six minutes in.
After Josh Anderson took a high-sticking penalty, Montreal won the draw and cleared the puck but after Winnipeg regained the zone, they poured pressure on Sam Montembault.
The dam eventually burst when Gabriel Vilardi got the puck by the side of the net and fed Connor for a quick-release shot that deflected off Phillip Danault and through Montembault for his 25th of the season.
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Curiously it was only his third power play goal of the season and also just his third since Christmas 2024.
A couple minutes later, Vilardi had to go to the locker room after blocking a shot and hobbling off the ice. He returned to the bench shortly thereafter and didn’t miss a shift.
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Connor nearly scored his second of the night just past the midway point of the first when he rang a shot off the post but it careened to safety.
Niederreiter also had a fantastic chance to get on the board when he got loose in transition but after taking a great pass from Vlad Namestnikov, he was denied by the blocker of Montembault from point-blank range.
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That all proved consequential as Montreal leveled the score with 3:34 to go in the first. As the Habs moved the puck around the Winnipeg end, they lost their defensive structure so when Hellebuyck stopped a point shot from Noah Dobson, Cole Perfetti was left to try and tie up Oliver Kapanen at the side of the net but he lost position on him and Kapanen was able to put the rebound into a yawning net.
The Canadiens got their first power play chance with 2:12 to go but didn’t get to play out the full two minutes before they took a penalty of their own, meaning Winnipeg would start the second with 1:25 of power play time, though they didn’t manage to do anything with it.
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It was a high-event first period with Winnipeg getting 13 shots on goal to Montreal’s 11.
The Canadiens got a couple of decent chances after killing off the Winnipeg power play. The first came when Hellebuyck mishandled a dump-in but he was able to deny the follow-up chance; the second was a 2-on-1 with Hellebuyck denying Jake Evans in close.
But off the ensuing faceoff, Montreal won the puck back to the point where Jayden Struble threw a shot on goal that went off Josh Anderson and past Hellebuyck to give the Habs a 2-1 lead at the 5:28 mark.
Just over a minute later, the Habs doubled their lead and gave the thousands of Montreal fans in attendance more to cheer about. Montreal broke the puck up the ice as Brendan Gallagher banked the puck off the boards to Anderson near the Winnipeg blue line.
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As Anderson collected the puck, Lane Hutson booked it up the ice and skated into the Winnipeg zone completely unguarded. He skated into the slot, took a pass from Anderson and beat Hellebuyck short-side to make it 3-1.
Winnipeg managed to outshoot the Habs 12-9 in the period as they got a few decent looks later in the period, mainly from the Vilardi-Adam Lowry-Cole Perfetti trio but the score remained 3-1 after 40 minutes.
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The Jets earned a power play just over two minutes into the third, giving them a great opportunity to cut into Montreal’s lead. Perfetti nearly did but was denied in close by Montembault while a shot from Scheifele squeezed through the Montreal goalie, trickling into the crease before a defender cleared it to safety.
After Montreal got the kill, the teams took turns skating up and down the ice with the puck but not generating much in terms of good scoring chances.
The Habs got their second power play of the night with 11 minutes to go and with Josh Morrissey three seconds away from exiting the box, Montreal scored to put the game on ice.
Winnipeg cleared the puck and went for a line change as the Canadiens regrouped. Dobson sent a pass to Zack Bolduc at the Jets’ blue line and he carried it in before sliding a pass down low to Kirby Dach. He then sent it cross-crease to Brendan Gallagher, who roofed it past Hellebuyck to make it 4-1.
Winnipeg pulled Hellebuyck for an extra attacker with more than five minutes to go in the third. Montreal tried unsuccessfully to score into the empty net from their own end, icing the puck five times as Winnipeg tried to cut into the lead.
It became a 6-on-4 with 1:48 left when Gallagher tripped Logan Stanley but it didn’t help Winnipeg as Danault finally scored an empty netter with 13 seconds left.
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The Jets enter the Olympic break with a 22-26-8 record and, as of the end of their game Wednesday, sit nine points back of a playoff spot with 26 games remaining.
Their next game will come Feb. 25 in Vancouver.